Friday, 20 March 2009

An addition to the family…

Number of days until submission of PhD: 7

Stress levels: On a sugar thermometer, about, ‘hard ball’ and rising. I think my posts may well begin to dry-up over the next week.

But anyway, we’ve been looking after a cat who belongs/ed to the sister of a friend. In theory it was just supposed to be for January while she was away. But time has gone on and we’ve become quite attached to him.

She has since decided that her circumstances at the moment are not ideal for a cat. As we live in open countryside where he can come and go as he pleases, she’s asked if we would keep him. Of course we will!

The only problem throughout his whole stay with us has been his name.

Apparently he was originally called ‘Madame Butterfly’ – then they found out he was a boy.

He came to us being called Noodle. But this has been changed, shortened (and lengthened) numerous times to: apple strudel, poodle, pooh (this is what I call him), knoodle, noo, even google, smut (this is what our neighbour calls him because of his ‘dirty’ black nose), doodle, chicken noodle, Mr P. Noodle (as in Pot) and Casper. Casper was the name of our cat who went missing and was sadly found dead last year. Sometimes old habits linger. Noodle will never replace Casper, but he has certainly made a place for himself in our hearts already.

4 comments:

I love it, I am allergic to most cats unfortunately, but I have come to appreciate all their habbits and quirks. They have such personalities. Noodle looks to be a cutie. Thinking very positive thoughts across the pond about your PhD!

Oysterculture - thank you for the positive thoughts! I can feel them already!

Laura - that is wonderful advice, there is something so therapeutic about cats, stroking them, watching them sleep and of course the purring.

Cottage Smallholder - I like 'Gnu' it reminds me of those Gu chocolate puddings :) I'm a firm believer that it's never too late if people want to go back into academia. But I have to say, PhDs should come with health warnings, both physical and mental.

Anyway, must get to bed, it's 2:11am... just finished writing my French summary. I've been dreading writing it, but it's a big relief now that section is finished (not that anyone will understand it!).

Thank you all for your kind comments, they are really helping me get through at the moment. x

About Springtime

Springtime is my journal of the things I've been up to while living in Cumbria. These may be in the kitchen, in the countryside, in the veg patch or anywhere else I happen to be!

I started writing the blog for different reasons, it initially followed the ups and downs of trying to finish my PhD. However, the nice thing about a blog is that it isn't a finished work (unlike a PhD!), instead it's more like a work in progress. For that reason, as my life has changed, so has the direction of the blog, who knows where it will go next...